Dhaka, Sept 3 (bdnews24.com)—Controversial writer Taslima Nasreen accused noted Indian writer Sunil Gangopadhyay on Monday of sexually harassing her.
Taslima, who has been prevented by authorities from returning to Bangladesh for 18 years, brought the accusation on Twitter saying Sunil had "sexually harassed" her and many other young female authors and poets.
Sunil brushed off the allegations. He told bdnews24.com, "I am not giving a damn about this (allegation). She had said such things against several people in the past after coming to Kolkata . I am busy with my own work."
In her Twitter post, Taslima said on Monday: "My previous four tweets are only to prove that Sunil G is now lying in the media that he did not support the banning of Dwikhandito."
The third of her five autobiographical novels, Dwikhandito or Split in two, had touched off rowdy protests and a series of street fights in Kolkata in November 2007, forcing nervous West Bengal state authorities to ask her to get out of the city. Taslima decided to take out the pages of the book that had controversial remarks a month later.
When approached by bdnews24.com, Sunil Gangopadhyay said, " I am not taking this (allegations) seriously. She said these things against several persons at numerous times before after coming to Kolkata . I am busy with my own works."
The award-winning feminist writer tweeted: "Sunil Gangopadhyay is for book banning. He sexually harassed me & many other women. He is the President of the Sahitya Akademi. Shame shame!"
Further: "Sunil Gangopadhyay asked former WB govt to ban my book Dwikhandita. Now he is speaking against book banning. Such a hypocrite!… No Bengali has courage to tear off the mask of writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, the hypocrite and women abuser."
Taslima got a good deal of response to her tweet, prompting her to tweet back on Monday.
One of her tweets read: "Reason Sunil Ganguly behind to ban my book, I was tearing off the masks of women abusers lyk (like) him. Sunil Gangapadhyay was the mastermind behind banning of my book Dwikhandita and my banishment from West Bengal."
There were diverse reactions to Taslima's tweet. One tweet asked why she is often the subject of alleged sexual harassment.
Taslima angered conservative Muslims with her writings and fled Bangladesh in 1994 after radical Muslims demanded her execution.
She has been living in exile for the last 18 years after a fatwa was issued against her in Bangladesh for her writings criticising Islam.
Taslima, who had been in Kolkata since 2003, became a hot political issue for New Delhi with the Hindu nationalist opposition accusing the government of pandering to Muslim minorities by trying to get her out of the country.
She fled Bangladesh for the first time in 1994 when a court said she had "deliberately and maliciously" hurt Muslims' religious feelings with her Bengali-language novel "Lajja", or "Shame", which is about riots between Muslims and Hindus.
Several of her books have been banned in India and Bangladesh. The European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought in 1994.
bdnews24.com/ajr/gna/bd/2127h
